Face lifting band

ABSTRACT

A face lifting band disposable on the head and hideable under the natural hair of the wearer or a wig or other hair covering and serving to immediately tighten the facial skin and remove lines therefrom and, operating over a period of time, to strengthen the facial muscles. The band has side and front portions formed of highly elastic webbing having on its inner face an adhering velour-like or velvet-type material. The back of the band is an insert inclining downwardly to a point and formed of two pieces of lower elasticity than the main portion of the band. The insert pieces are joined together at the center back and to the ends of the main webbing at an angle to the axes of the inserts and the main webbing. The inserts may have a lesser width than the main webbing whose corners thereat are bent over and sewn to provide a smooth contour. Anchoring means for the back of the band may be placed on the inside surface thereof.

United States Patent Basch [54] FACE LIFTING BAND [72] Inventor: Lorraine A. Basch, 17071 Courtney Lane, Huntington Beach, Calif. 92647 [22] Filed: July 10, 1970 21 Appl.No.: 53,931

[52] U.S. Cl ..128/76 B [51 Int. Cl. ..A6lf 5/08 [58] Field ofSearch ..128/76, 163, 164,78, 157; 132/57-67 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,130,720 4/1964 Roberts ..128/76 3,467,1 l l 9/1969 Benson ..132/46 2,399,335 4/1946 Dunand. .128/163 X 3,399,669 9/1968 Kaplan ..128/78 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 289,151 I 4/1928 Great Britain ..L ..128/76 238,829 8/1925 Great Britain ..128/76 1 June 27, 1972 Primary Examiner-Richard A. Gaudet Assistant Examiner.l. Yasko Attorney-Fulwider, Patton, Rieber, Lee & Utecht ABSTRACT A face lifting band disposable on the head and hideable under the natural hair of the wearer or a wig or other hair covering and serving to immediately tighten the facial skin and remove lines therefrom and, operating over a period of time, to strengthen the facial muscles. The band has side and front portions formed of highly elastic webbing having on its inner face an adhering velour-like or velvet-type material. The back of the band is an insert inclining downwardly to a point and formed of two pieces of lower elasticity than the main portion of the band. The insert pieces are joined together at the center back and to the ends of the main webbing at an angle to the axes of the inserts and the main webbing. The inserts may have a lesser width than the main webbing whose corners thereat are bent over and sewn to provide a smooth contour. Anchoring means for the back of the band may be placed on the inside surface thereof.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. The present invention isin the field of cosmetic devices for mechanically providing the effect of an immediate face lift.

2. Many procedures, chemical, cosmetic and mechanical, have been tried to secure the effect of a face lift but all have left much to be desired. Pressure bands and lifting devices have been ineffective, must be worn in private as they cannot be concealed, and act to weaken the facial muscles. Examples of these are U. S. Pat, Brown No. 2,556,793 and British US. Pat., Morrett No. 405,925. The face lifting band of this invention is concealable, immediately improves the appearance by tightening the facial skin and removing lines, and acts over aperiod of time to strengthen the facial muscles.

I SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The face lifting band of the present invention is securely mounted on the head of the wearer behind the hair line so that it may be covered with the natural hair of the wearer or by hats, scarfs and wigs and other artificial hair supplements. The sides and front of the band are, made of a continuous strip of highly elastic webbing having an elasticity, by way of example only, of I50 250 percent. A pair of insert pieces of webbing are attached to the ends of the main webbing and to each other at the center back, all junctions of the insert webbing being angularly disposed with respect to to the axes of the inserts and the main webbing. These junctions are made by butting the ends together and sewing with zig-zag stitching of the buttonhole type.

The width of the insert pieces may be less than the width of the main webbing and the corners of the main webbing adjacent the inserts may be turned over and sewn to give a smooth contour of the edge of the band for the comfort of the wearer. The insert pieces are preferably of lower elasticity than the mainwebbing, for example 50 percent, and both the inserts and the main webbing stretch only longitudinally and are inherently held against transverse stretching. The total length of the inserts, between the ends of the main webbing depends on the shape of the wearer's head and, by way of example only, may vary between 2 and to 6 inches. The inserts incline downwardly from their junctions with the ends of the main webbing and the inserts are joined together at the center back of theband where they incline downwardly to a point.

The inner surfaces of the main webbing and the inserts are faced so that the band will adhere to the wearers hair and this facing, by way of example only, may be a silk velour-like or velvet-type material which can be woven or flocked to the inside surface of the webbing. The width of the main portion of the band will depend somewhat on the shape of the head and may be, for example, 1 b -4 inches.

The band is placed on the hair of the wearer behind the ears and the hair line by being drawn upwardly from beneath the chin, whereby the skin of the face is pulled taut but not stretched. Also, muscles of the face are placed under tension so that they become strengthened over a period of time as they work against the tightening force exerted by the band.

' A non-elastic anchor strip is provided across the inserts at the back of the band, this preferably being of the gripping type employing a multiplicity of tiny'plastic hooks. These are normally covered by an attached strip whose front face is smooth and whose back face presents a tangle of threads to be engaged by the plastic hooks, such material being commercially available as a closure under the trademark Velcro. The smooth surface strip is retained in place where the head contour of the wearer inherently holds the back of the band down. With the strip removed, the plastic hooks engage the back neckhair of the wearer to anchor the back of the band in place.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the general location of the face lifting band according to the present invention as worn in face lifting position.

FIG. 2 is a rear and side perspective view of the band of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the band.

FIG. 4 is an inside view toward the back taken in the direction of the arrow 4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view through the back of the band as worn with the anchoring hooks exposed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The face lifting band 11 is exemplified in the drawing as having its main body portion, disposable at opposite sides of and at the upper front of the wearers head, formed of a continuous strip of elastic webbing 12 of a width, for example, of l /2 4 inches and faced on its inner surface 13 with a silk velour-like material of a velvet-type, woven or flocked to the webbing. The webbing strip 12 stretches longitudinally only, its construction inherently preventing transverse stretch. This webbing may have relatively high elasticity of the order of 250 percent, such webbing being available commercially. The webbing strip 12 of the band 11 provides a front portion 14 and opposite side portions 15 and 16.

The back of the band 11 is provided by a pair of insert pieces 17 and 18 inwardly faced like the strip 12. The inserts l7 and 18 comprise short strips of elastic webbing which may be of lesser width than the webbing l2 and have a lesser elasticity of the order of 5 50 percent. The inserts l7 and 18 are made narrower for comfort and to fit the shape of the wearers head. The ends of the insert strips 17 and 18 joined to the ends of the main webbing strip 12 are butted together at 19 and 21 and securely sewn in a zig-zag, buttonhole stitch. The adjacent ends of the insert strips 17 and 18 themselves are butted together at 22 and likewise securely sewn with a zig-zag buttonhole stitch.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the insert strips 17 and 18 incline downwardly from the main webbing l2, and the junctions 19 and 21 between the ends of the insert strips and the main strip are angularly disposed with respect to both of them, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. The junction 22 between the two insert strips 17 and 18, is inclined thereto as best shown in FIG. 3, and this junction is substantially open V-shaped, as shown in FIG. 4, depending to a bottom point 23. The length of the entire band 11, measured around the bottom edge, should be of the general order of 3 inches less than the wearers head dimension thereat to insure the band tightly gripping the head in performing its face lifting function. This dimension may vary widely with the elasticity of webbing used in the band sections.

The upper comers of the ends of the main webbing strip 12 are bent over at 24, and 25 to meet the narrower insert strips to provide a comfortable, head-fitting contour. These folded corners are securely stitched at 26 and 27, respectively.

To assist in holding the back of the band 11 down on the head of a wearer, a closure-type holding strip 28 extends generally longitudinally of the hand between the insert strips 17 and 18, its ends being stitched thereto at 29 and 31 and its center stitched to the junction 22. The strip 28 may be of the type known commercially as Velcro and comprising a back strip 32 supporting a multiplicity of small plastic loops 33 therein which are cut forwardly of the surface of the strip to provide a multiplicity of small plastic hooks. A front strip 33 has a tangle of threads at 35 on its back surface which normally are engaged by the hooks 33 on the strip 32 to cover them. With the strip 33 removed, the hooks are uncovered and will engage the wearer's hair at the nape of the neck to hold the back of the band down. FIG. 4 shows the strip 28 with the right hand portion of strip 32 covered by the strip 33 and the left hand portion exposed.

In the use of the face lifting band of this invention, it is first pulled over the head of the wearer down to a position around the neck, with the velour or velvet face inside and with the seam 22 pointing down the back of the neck. The band is then slowly pulled up over the face and the ears to a position about 1 inch behind the hair line, this upward movement being accomplished with the velour or velvet facing in contact with and pulling the skin of the face taut. The band 11 is then in the position shown in FIG. 1, with the back thereof under the wearers hair and extending forwardly and upwardly behind the ears and with the front portion 14 on top of the wearer's hair. The front hair may be pulled forwardly of the band, for example, by a comb rat tail, and then a fall, wig, scarf or hat may be placed over the band 11 to conceal it, with the front hair styled to cover, as desired. When finished the band 11 may be entirely hidden. On the other hand, if the wearer wishes to wear the band as an ordinary hair band it may be left exposed.

The face lifting band of this invention immediately pulls the skin taut, but does not stretch it, thereby substantially removing age lines and sagging skin. At the same time, it places the facial muscles under tension so that they work thereagainst to strengthen the muscles and, after a time, give permanent improvement thereto. The band not only gives an immediate improvement in the appearance of the face by tightening the skin to remove age lines and wrinkles but acts over a longer period to strengthen the facial muscle for permanent improvement,

With certain shaped heads the back portion of the band 11, constituted by the insert strips 17 and 18, will not stay in its lower position, as shown in FIG. 1, but will tend to slide upwardly on the head, thus relieving the tension in the band and defeating its purpose. For such a head shape the front strip 33 is entirely removed from the holding strip 28, leaving only the strip 32 with the multiplicity of hooks 33 exposed at the back of the band. When the band is then placed on the wearers head as above described, the back of the band is held in place as shown in FIG. where the now-exposed plastic hooks 33 engage the hair at the nape of the neck and hold the back of the band 11 down. Where the head of the wearer is shaped so that it will normally retain the back band down, the finish strip 33 of the closure strip 28 remains in place for greater comfort.

While a certain preferred embodiment of the invention has been specifically illustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention is not limited thereto as many variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art and the invention is to be given its broadest interpretation within the terms of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A face-lifting band comprising:

a principal section formed of fabric having a relatively high elasticity along its length only and no elasticity across its width, said principal section being of a length to extend across the front and along the sides of the head of a wearer; and

a back section formed of a pair of pieces of fabric having a low elasticity along its length and no elasticity across its width, said pair of pieces of fabric being mirror images of each other and connected together at an angle to the longitudinal axes of said pieces, the other ends of said pieces being connected to the ends of said principal section and at an angle thereto whereby said band is shaped to conform to the head of the wearer.

2. A face lifting band as described in claim 1 in which said principal section has an elasticity of between and 250 percent, and said back section has an elasticity of between 5 and 50 percent.

3. A face lifting band as described in claim 2 in which said back section extends lower on the neck of the wearer than the projected plane ofsaid principal portion ofsaid band.

4. A face lifting band as described in claim 1 in which said back section is narrower than said principal section, extends below the lower edge of said principal section, and the upper edge of said principal section is folded down on said principal section at an angle to align the upper edge of said principal section with the upper edge of said rear section. 

1. A face-lifting band comprising: a principal section formed of fabric having a relatively high elasticity along its length only and no elasticity across its width, said principal section being of a length to extend across the front and along the sides of the head of a wearer; and a back section formed of a pair of pieces of fabric having a low elasticity along its length and no elasticity across its width, said pair of pieces of fabric being mirror images of each other and connected together at an angle to the longitudinal axes of said pieces, the other ends of said pieces being connected to the ends of said principal section and at an angle thereto whereby said band is shaped to conform to the head of the wearer.
 2. A face lifting band as described in claim 1 in which said principal section has an elasticity of between 150 and 250 percent, and said back section has an elasticity of between 5 and 50 percent.
 3. A face lifting band as described in claim 2 in which said back section extends lower on the neck of the wearer than the projected plane of said principal portion of said band.
 4. A face lifting band as described in claim 1 in which said back section is narrower than said principal section, extends below the lower edge of said principal section, and the upper edge of said principal section is folded down on said principal section at an angle to align the upper edge of said principal section with the upper edge of said rear section. 